Sword Art Online - Merging Hearts
by Kaio Thor
Summary: This story sets off after Lizbeth runs out of the smith shop. Read the story to find out more.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything of the Sword Art Online franchise in any way, except the idea to write this story.

* * *

_**Gentle Feelings**_

"Lizbeth…" Kirito said with a gentle voice, still only halfway across the bridge.

"Right now is a bad time." The girl in question answered while standing up, her back turned towards him.  
"Give me a few minutes and I'll be back to my usual, cheerful self."

"Liz…"

"How did you know I was here?" Lizbeth asked, turning towards him, still with tears in her eyes.

"You can see the whole town from up there." Kirito answered while pointing towards the tower in the center of the 48th floor city Lindus.

"Flashy as always, huh?" Lizbeth said with a small, but still sad, smile on her face.  
"Sorry, I'll be fine." As she said that, she turned away again and walked to the small stream and knelt down.  
"My heart just isn't used to the feeling of adventure."  
"Please forget everything I said." She said in a shivering voice while covering her face with her hands.

"I wanted to thank you." Kirito, who had crossed the bridge and was now halfway around to where Lizbeth was, said.

At this Lizbeth removed her hands from her face and made a surprised noise.

"All this time, I seriously believed it was better to die than to live alone." He continued.

Lizbeth now stood up and turned around with a surprised expression on her face.

"But after we fell in that hole, I was so glad that we were alive together." Kirito averted his eyes for a second as he said this.  
"I figured that all of us here in this game were just living for the sake of being alive." He looked back at her, now with a sincere smile on his face.  
"So thank you, Liz."

"Me too…" Lizbeth began, shifting her gaze to his feet.  
"Y`know, I've been searching all this time…" She continued, shifting her gaze back upwards to look into his eyes while moving a little bit closer to him.  
"…for something real in this world." Again she closed the distance between them by a step.  
"The warmth of your hand was real to me." While saying that, she shifted her gaze down towards his hands, her own hands seemingly cupping an invisible hand.

As Lizbeth moved her eyes back up to look into his eyes again, Kirito changed his facial expression from surprise to, content?  
An honest smile started to form on her face as she continued to talk.

"You should repeat what you just said to Asuna." Lizbeth continued, turning away from him again.

"Liz…"

"I'll be okay." She kept going on, ignoring his interrupt. Although it was rather to reassure herself more than it was to reassure him.  
"I can still feel the heat a little." Lizbeth said, tilting her head backwards a little to look up at the sky. Or rather the ceiling, since that was what was about 100 meter above them.  
"So, please…" Tears were starting to form again in her eyes.  
"…make this world come to an end." The tears now dropping down on her dress.  
"I can hold out until then." She now was clenching her hands, which had dropped to her sides, to fists.

What happened next, was something Lizbeth definitely wasn't expecting to happen.

She felt a sudden warmth on her forehead and her left hand, her head being gently pressed backwards until it hit the chest of Kirito. She relaxed her hands again and moved her left hand a little bit, so that her fingers could take hold of his hand. Her tears slowly started to fade away as his warmth seeped into her. After a minute that felt like an hour to Lizbeth, she regretfully started to turn around and put a distance of about 30 centimeter between them.

"I promise you. I'm going to beat this game." Kirito said with a gentle voice.  
"But, I'm not sure if I can do it alone."

"If your weapons and armor need fixing, feel free to drop by anytime." Lizbeth said after wiping away the remnants of her tears with the sleeve of her dress.

After she said that, Lizbeth turned around and started walking back towards her shop, grabbing Kitio's hand while walking past him.

Kirito, who now seemingly understood what she really meant with those words, quickly fell into step besides her, a smile of content slowly forming on his face.

"Sure."

Just as they were about 15 meter away from the backdoor of Lizbeth's workshop, they both stopped simultaneously. Lizbeth let go of Kirito's hand and turned to face him, Kirito did the same.

"Are you free after 4 pm?" Kirito was the first to speak up.

"I think so, why are you asking?" Lizbeth answered, with a slight look of surprise on her face.

"I know this really great café on the 30th floor, where they serve a really great curry." Kirito said with a mischievous grin.

"Alright!" Lizbeth exclaimed excitedly.  
"But don't you dare to be late by even one minute."

* * *

A/N: Hello and a very big "Thank you!" that you decided to read my story.

This suddenly came to me while I was rewatching the Anime... while drinking my fifteenth cup of Earl Grey this day.

Alright... back to main topic:

Although this looks like a one-shot, I still have a whole story in my hands that follows directly after this. Now, my idea was that if a certain number of favs and comments is reached, I'll upload an other chapter. While doing this I always try to tie up most of the loose ends to give this story an overall finished feeling within the current amount of chapters uploaded.

For starters I set the _'requirements'_ for me to upload the next chapter at **5 comments and 4 favs**.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_Well, here goes the secon chapter. I sure hope you like it and I'm sorry that it took a little bit longer than I had planned. I somehow lost my physical script (yes, I tend to write the initial draft on real paper) and managed to forget my computer on the train..._

* * *

**Curry for two**

_~ The next day 4 pm_

Kirito was standing in the sales room of a certain shop on the 48th floor Lindus, waiting for the owner to come down. Having nothing to do, other than waiting or talking to the NPC-girl taking care of the sales room, he started looking at the weapons and armor on display.

Just a few seconds later the shop owner, wearing a light blue dress similar to her normal outfit (although the skirt isn't as flared up) walked into the room through the door leading to the actual workshop and the staircase.

"Sorry for the wait!" Lizbeth exclaimed cheerfully as she closed the door behind her.

"Should we head out then?" Kirito asked while turning towards the source of the voice.

"Sure, just let me close the shop and we're good to go." Lizbeth answered with a pout.

In a speed that was unlike her in many ways, Lizbeth sent the NPC-girl home and flipped the sign from 'open' to 'closed'.

As the two walked down the streets of Lindus many players turned around and their eyes followed them with their gazes fixed on the almost non-existent space between them. Since the front line was currently at the 63rd floor there were still a few players of the Clearing Group on the 48th floor, which was the reason why they, or more specifically Kirito, received a lot of surprised looks.

As the finally reached the Teleport Gate Kirito took hold of her left hand with his right before they both called the words,

"Teleport: Aquaria!"

* * *

Once the blue light of the teleport faded they were standing in the middle of a plaza that was probably modeled after Venice, since everything in this city was built floating on the water. With its wooden floors and the completely wooden houses, although some were painted differently than others, and with the trees planted down the lanes spreading in all four directions it was a sight to behold. Although this was quite a beautiful place there were almost no other players around.

As both of them stepped down from the Teleport Gate, still holding hands, they were very cheerfully greeted by a few passing NPCs.

"I don't remember the NPCs being so lively when I was here last time…" Lizbeth said in amazement.

"They started acting like that last month after I helped someone finish a quest that involved defeating a giant reptile that terrorized the sea around here." Kirito explained as he started heading down the eastward lane.

"I didn't think you were the type of person to just go out and help people when I first saw you."

Just now Lizbeth realized she was still holding hands with Kirito and couldn't help but blush a bit.

"Well, I did get promised three months worth of curry as a reward." Kirito, who seemingly still hadn't noticed the fact that they were still holding hands, said with a grin on his face.

"That seems like a pretty stupid quest-reward."

"No, that was what the owner of the café promised me."

"Since when are NPCs doing that?" Lizbeth asked, a bit confused.

"It's a player owned restaurant." Kirito stated blatantly.

"We're here."

In front of the couple was a simple house painted with a light green that had a big sign saying "Silber's Café 'n Curry" in bright blue letters. The five round tables outside the café were all fully crowded with four players each, all of them chatting away happily while enjoying various drinks and dishes. The most prominent dish being the curry with a rich scent that almost made Lizbeth drool. Behind the two big windows, the café was almost as full with only one table being vacant.

Upon entering they were immediately greeted by a guy with grayish hair and deep blue eyes who seemed to be just a little bit below his twenties.

"Bringing your girlfriend along today?"

While Lizbeth just deepened her blush Kirito let go of her hand, raising both of his hands in defense.

"What gave you that idea?" Kirito countered, answering a question with a question.

"That aside, it's probably the usual for you, but how about your company?" the bartender changed the topic smoothly… with a raised eyebrow.

"I-I'll take the same." Lizbeth answered, managing to regain her composure.

"Two extra spicy coming right up." The bartender answered with a smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

After they sat down the two started talking a little bit about their Aincrad-lives. Kirito being reluctant at first quickly started to relax and started telling a few stories of his own, leaving out the more uncomfortable ones. Lizbeth, unknowingly, inched closer to Kirito and was just about to take hold of his folded hands on the table as the bartender set their plates onto the table, swiftly followed by the drinks.

"Well, time to eat." Kirito stated blatantly after he took off his gloves.

As she saw Kirito happily shoving the curry into his mouth, Lizbeth decided that she wouldn't be able to talk to him until he finished. Not to mention that the smell of the food in front of her made her stomach grumble, so she decided to eat as well.

"You eat this regularly?" Lizbeth asked after she had taken the first spoonful.

Kirito just looked up questioningly.

Ignoring the smirk on his face she decided to resume eating. Wait, did he really have a smirk on his face? She looked up to double-check it but couldn't make out any facial expression similar to a smirk at all.

After they had finished and the bartender came to pick up the empty dishes, Lizbeth ordered the sweetest drink she knew that was on the menu. The batender just took it with a smile and Kirito shook his head… again with that smirk that only seemed to be there for a moment.

After talking a little bit more Kirito suddenly whipped his head around and looked outside the window. With a quite worried expression on his face.

"What happened?" Lizbeth asked, concern evident.

"I thought I finally managed to lose her." Kirito said, looking back at Lizbeth.

"Who?" she asked confused.

"Asuna." Kirito stated straight out.

"What the hell did you do to have the sub leader of the KoB following you around?" the bartender asked with a concerned smile on his face, having approached their table as he saw Kirito whip his head around.

"Nothing." Kirito replied truthfully.

"Why would she follow you?" it was Lizbeth asking the question now.

"How should I-" Kirito broke of mid-sentence, "… oh!"

"What?" the barkeeper and Lizbeth asked almost in unison.

"Is there a place where we can hide here, Silber?" Kirito asked, turning to look at the bartender.

"If her skill level is high enough she will find you anyway, so why hide?" Silber answered with a half question.

"I just need a few minutes."

Lizbeth was looking very confused as she listened to the two talking. She would soon know what Kirito was up to.

"Alright, alright…" Silber leaned in closer so the other customers wouldn't hear, "Upstairs, first door on the right is the living room."

* * *

"Where is he?" Asuna asked as she leaned on the counter, clearly unnerved.

"If the one you're looking for isn't here you must have missed him."

"Don't make me angrier than I already am!" she was now clearly shouting.

Needless to say, the whole café turned to look at her.

"Then why does his track lead upstairs in your house but not down again?" her voice was dripping with anger as she said that.

The customers shrunk into their seats to appear as small as possible, in the hope that the rage of the female warrior would pass over them without hurting them.

Silber entered into a staring contest with Asuna and managed to keep it up for a few minutes before he sighed and leaned back into the wall.

"I think I know who you're talking about." he said with an obviously amused expression on his face. "Follow me."

With that he led her upstairs.

* * *

As soon as Kirito heard that two sets of footsteps arrived at the first floor he captured Lizbeth in a position that, seen from the door, would look like he kissed her.

What he didn't expect was that, as soon as the door opened, Lizbeth put her arms around his neck and pulled him into the kiss he was just going to pretend. After his initial surprise he found himself enjoying the unexpected outcome.

A few seconds later they heard a very hasty set of footsteps run back down the stairs and sigh coming from the doorway.

Parting their kiss, both of them looked at the source of the sigh.

"Kids, if you are intending to take this any further I have to ask you to do so at your own home." Silber said with a hard to read expression.

"I thought we agreed on the 'pretending' part?" Kirito asked, with a blush on his face.

"I… I just had the feeling that it w-would be alright." Lizbeth responded, her face an even darker shade of pink than her hair.

After spending a few seconds in silence, they both decided to leave the café.

"The next time something like this happens I will charge you a fee." Silber called after them.

Kirito just nodded absentmindedly as if he didn't really hear that. On the way back to her workshop, both of them didn't say anything except for the transport command.

* * *

Back at Lizbeth's back door they looked into each others eyes.

"I should head home now." Kirito said as he pulled Lizbeth in for a hug.

"Won't you stay with me just a little bit longer?" Lizbeth asked as she pressed her body against his, resting her head on his shoulder.

Let's just say that they didn't get much sleep this night…


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_**Well, nothing much to say here other than that I have only to more chapters to finalize... that, and I'm already thinking about writing a sequel. **

**Anyway, please have fun reading and leave a review if you enjoyed it. ;D  
**

* * *

_**Sunset wood land**_

_~ Two weeks later_

Kirito walked out of the Dungeon of the 68th floor and onto the meadow that stretched out towards the town. Well, except the small forest that was located about 10 minutes walk out of the Dungeon, if you followed the trail that is.

Just as Kirito was nearing the end of the forest his Scan for Enemy skill made him aware of another presence in the immediate area. Scanning around he quickly found it, although it was not quite what he expected.

As he focused on the cursor, the name of the monster was displayed, which read: Ragout Rabbit

Taking out two throwing picks, Kirito threw the first one at a tree stump near the white rabbit, scaring it into action. The last thing the rabbit saw as it tried to jump away was Kirito as he charged up a basic throwing skill.

Checking his inventory, Kirito confirmed that he received all the loot from the Ragout Rabbit.

"Dinner acquired…" Kirito begun, a little bit dazed, "… now, how to resolve the issue of how to cook it."

Only two people came to mind as he thought about players with a high enough Cooking skill. Although two came to mind, only one was possible without having a really awkward dinner.

_Sender: Kirito_

_Receiver: Silber_

_Content: Got my hands onto some Ragout Rabbit meat and need someone with an absurdly high Cooking skill. _

_You free tonight?_

The answer didn't take long, since he received it as soon as he had taken two steps outside the forest.

_Sender: Silber_

_Receiver: Kirito_

_Content: Pick you up at the Teleport Gate on the 22__nd__ floor at 21:30. _

_How many people are coming?_

With a small grin Kirito took out one of his Teleport Crystals, this could be considered as an emergency after all, and replied before teleporting away.

* * *

The last costumer of the day had just left the shop and Lizbeth sighed as she heard her stomach growl, which shouldn't be possible at all. Taking into account that SAO did not have a feature like that, she shrugged it off as imagination. That girl absolutely had to talk her ear off about that S-class ingredient one could obtain from a rare monster called Ragout Rabbit. Even the thought of her favorite cake, which Kirito had somehow got a hold of a few days ago after she casually mentioned how she would love to eat some strawberry cheesecake, couldn't distract her from the almost too accurate description how that flesh tasted. And not to mention that it was the best strawberry cheesecake she had **ever** had.

"I would do almost everything to eat that cake for real when this nightmare ends…" Lizbeth sighed as she switched the sign from 'Open' to 'Closed' and locked the front door.

"Now I'm even hungrier than before…"

Kirito chose just that moment to barge in through the door that lead to her workshop, why he always came in through that exact door was lost to her.

"Lizbeth, tonight might be the best night in your life!" Kirito was yelling with the brightest grin she had ever seen on his face.

Lizbeth immediately blushed with the deepest tone of crimson red that the system knew of, thoughts going back to that unforgettable night weeks ago. The blush was soon replaced with a look of disbelieve as Kirito showed her the one S-class ingredient she had been tortured with for the last hour. Rubbing her eyes she looked at the window again, only to see that it was still there.

Looking up at Kirito, who was still smiling, she almost tackled him to the ground as she hugged him. Stumbling a few steps backwards he regained his balance and returned the hug. After about a minute Lizbeth looked up at him with the one question that seemed to stand between her and a dinner she wouldn't forget in the near future.

"Who's going to cook it?"

"I've already taken care of it." Kirito answered with a smile.

"Who?" Lizbeth was inching closer to his face until their noses touched, trying to get the answer by gazing into his soul.

"Silber…" Kirito begun, trying to get a little more distance in between their faces, "… or do you know anyone else with a high enough Cooking skill?"

Ever since that night two weeks ago Kirito found it exceptionally hard to keep himself from blushing whenever their faces, or bodies for that matter, were pressed together as close as they were now.

"How about a little walk down on the 22nd floor?" Kirito asked before taking the opportunity and kissing her.

* * *

_22__nd__ floor_

As Kirito and Lizbeth were walking around a lake, they both spotted a girl in a white dress walking through the forest not too far from them. Well, Kirito had to make Lizbeth aware of that fact.

Actually Kirito was just about to tell Lizbeth a ghost story about the forests on this very floor, but that had now been rendered obsolete as he had probably found the cause for that story right now.

Still not sure what to do about the situation that just arose, they were both shocked as the girl just collapsed in the middle of the forest. With both of them starting to run at the same time, Kirito reached the girl first due to his higher Agility. Pulling the girl up to sit against a tree they both looked her over. Now that they could see the girl up close they noticed the long black hair, previously not really noticeable under the shadows of the trees, and the lack of shoes and other things that a normal player would carry around visibly.

"What is a girl of her age doing, wandering around alone?" Lizbeth asked looking at Kirito.

"She must have logged in with her parents..." Kirito muttered absently. "Either way, we can't just leave her here."

"So we're taking her with us?" Lizbeth looked at Kirito questioningly.

"Yeah…" Kirito replied absently, again.

Kirito and Lizbeth arrived just a few minutes earlier at the Teleport Gate of the 22nd floor than the appointed time. After putting the girl down on a park bench with her head resting on Lizbeth's lap, Kirito sat down next to Lizbeht as well. They sat there in a few minutes of silence with Lizbeth resting her head on Kirito's shoulder, stroking the girl's hair absentmindedly.

"Is that a new feature of SAO?"

"What?" Kirito asked dumbfounded.

"N-n-no, you're misunderstanding!" Lizbeth burst out, blushing furiously.

"Mama… Papa…?" the little girl said, drawing everyone's attention towards her.

"Ah, you're awake." Kirito said with a smile.

"Can you tell us your name?" Lizbeth asked with a kind smile.

The little girl just looked at the three with a confused look on her face.

"I'm Kirito, " Kirito said pointing at himself,

"this is Lizbeth…" he said pointing at Lizbeth,

"… and this is Silber." he said pointing towards Silber.

The girl still had the confused look on her face, which was quickly replaced by an innocent smile.

"Yui…" the girl said pointing at herself.

"Li'beth… mama…" the girl said pointing at Lizbeth.

"Ki'to… papa…" the girl said, now pointing at Kirito.

The girl turned to look at Silber and cocked her head to the side, thinking for a few seconds.

"Si'er… uncle…" she finally said pointing at Silber.

"At least I'm not grandpa…" Silber heaved a sigh of relieve.

"Anyway, could we continue this at my house?" Silber asked after taking a glance around. "The people are beginning to give us odd looks."

* * *

With their stomachs filled with a most delicious meal, they sat around the dining table, drinking tea.

"For such a slender girl she can sure eat a lot." Silber said as he was refilling the cups

"So, mind telling me how you two got a daughter?"

"We found her collapsed in the forest while taking a walk on this floor." Kirito stated dryly.

"Do you know her?" Lizbeth asked, hoping for a clue.

"I've never seen her before…" Silber begun before taking a sip of his tea, "… but I know someone who runs something like a daycare center on the first floor."

"Can you get us in contact with this person?" Kirito asked.

"Well, it just so happens that they booked me for some kind of birthday party tomorrow." Silber said as he stood up.

"Would you take us with you tomorrow?" Lizbeth asked over the rim of her tea cup.

"Only on two conditions:" Silber begun lifting a finger up in the air.

"First: You have to promise not to disturb the fun the kids are having."

"Second: You have to give me an honest opinion about the dessert." While saying that he extended a second finger.

After that Silber headed into the kitchen and first came back with a set of dishes, even one for Yui. He then went back into the kitchen and this time came back with a cake that made Lizbeth drool by just seeing it.

Kirito was smiling as he saw Lizbeth's reaction.

"Kirito…" Lizbeth was too absorbed by the sight of Silber cutting her favorite cake into pieces.

"You seemed to like the cake as I got it for you the last time." Kirito said while trying to suppress his laughter at the sight.

Somehow the smell had woken up Yui, who had been dozing off on the sofa, as she was now climbing onto the chair she had occupied earlier. Placing a slice of the cake in front of each of them with a smile, Silber made a gesture for his guests to start eating.

"I knew that the smell of something sweet would wake her up." Silber said while taking another sip of his tea.

Lizbeth completely froze after she had the first bite of cake.

"It tastes even better than last time…" Lizbeth said in a daze, putting her hands on her cheeks as if to savor the taste completely.


End file.
